


Petrichor

by la_penumbra



Category: Eurovision Song Contest RPF, Hatari (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/M, Fire Alarms, Fluff, Getting Together, Huddling For Warmth, apartment buildings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 21:37:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19709938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_penumbra/pseuds/la_penumbra
Summary: A 3am fire alarm finds Emma standing outside her apartment in the rain wearing nothing more than her pajamas and a coat, and standing next to her practically naked neighbor, Klemens Hannigan.





	Petrichor

**Author's Note:**

> This work has been crossposted on Wattpad, so if you see it there, don't worry, it's me.

_ 3 am. 3 in the fucking morning. And some asshole had to set off the fire alarm for the whole building _ . That’s how Emma found herself standing, freezing cold, in the rain on the asphalt outside her apartment building. It was otherwise a very normal night. She had gone to bed at 11 and was sleeping perfectly well when she was awoken by the noise. It was a very shrill sound, and one she hadn’t actually heard before. 

It took a moment, or rather, around 50 seconds, for her to process what it was. Once she had realized that it meant she needed to evacuate the building, she got up, grabbed a jacket, and ran out to the hall, slamming the door behind her. She heard others waking up and moving around in the floor above, and a few people already walking down the stairs. She was still standing when the door next to her swung open and someone sprung out, knocking her to the floor. She groaned, and she looked up to see her neighbor, Klemens Hannigan, hair sticking in all directions, looking very tired. And, she realized, only wearing a pair of boxers. 

“Sorry,” He mumbled, picking himself up, his rush to leave the building somewhat crushed. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Emma said, pushing herself to a seated position before standing, “It’s early. And there’s a fire. Good reason to hurry.” She smiled. 

“Speaking of, we should leave,” He reached out a hand, and pulled her to the stairwell. She let go as they ran down the stairs together, out the door, and into the parking lot. Where it was pouring down rain. 

Emma was very glad she had grabbed a coat. It was the only thing between the cold air and her pajamas, a thin shirt and shorts. She was beginning to regret not putting on shoes, because being entirely barefoot on wet asphalt was not a great experience. 

She found herself staring at her cold feet and saw another pair of feet approach hers, clad in a pair of white socks which were slowly dampening in the rain. She looked up and Klemens was standing there, right next to her, out in the cold with wet feet and only a pair of boxers on. He had long blond hair, cut and styled so it was almost a mullet, but not exactly. And it looked good on him. There were a few small earrings in his ear, which she had never noticed. He had a couple of tattoos she had never seen, a bee or something on his shoulder, a giant elephant skeleton with long legs over one side of his chest, and a tuning fork on the other. She was analyzing his skin enough to notice that he even had some weird tattoo on his thigh. 

_ Oh god. She was staring at him. He had goosebumps. She had been staring at his chest. It looked like she had just checked him out. She was staring at his thigh. Fuck.  _

She whipped her head back up to look him in the eyes, mortified and probably blushing. He had on a soft smile and gave a small laugh. 

“Hi,” she said quietly. 

“Hey.”

“Are you cold?” She blurted out, “I mean, you must be cold. You’re wearing nothing and it’s raining and your socks are soaked and you’re shivering a bit and— here,” she pulled off her jacket and offered it to him, “Wear my coat.” 

He held out his hand and shook it. “No. You’re not wearing much either, you need it.”

_ Fuck. He’s right. I’m not wearing much.  _ She looked down.  _ Oh god. My nipples are on full display. In front of my neighbor. _ She didn’t protest. Just quietly slipped back on the jacket and looked at her feet, embarrassed.

Klemens had been living next door for almost a year now. She met him when he had first moved in. She had brought over some cookies and introduced herself. They mostly saw each other in passing, while entering the building, getting the mail, right in their hall. She didn’t know much about him other than that he was an art school student, did some set design, and was in a small band. The band part she knew the least about. He had invited her (along with the rest of their floor) to a couple of shows, but Emma never was able to fit it into her schedule. 

Once, about a month ago, she came home really drunk and couldn’t get into her flat. That night Klemens had poked his head out and saw her, sobbing on the floor in front of her door, and helped her into his apartment. He gave her a glass of water, then lay her down on the couch, and let her sleep. The next morning she woke up to him handing her a plate of toast and a banana, another glass of water, and advil. Her head was pounding and she wanted to run to the bathroom to vomit, but he sat next to her and quietly encouraged her to eat. It actually helped. She thanked him and was able to stand up, walk back to her apartment, and go right back to sleep. 

The sound of sirens jolted Emma from her thoughts. She looked up and around just in time to see the bright red truck racing down the road and right to the parking lot. As it was nearing, she realized it was headed straight to where she was standing and she stumbled backwards a few steps. Right into Klemens. 

For the second time that morning, the two were tangled up on the ground. But this time, it felt different. His hands had moved to her arms to attempt to stabilize her before they fell, so Emma was lying, her back on top of Klemens’ bare chest, while he was embracing her. They were soaking wet, but it was warm. So much warmer than standing in the rain. 

_ I want to lie here in his arms for the rest of the night. Wait. What? I’m tired. I’m tired and cold. That’s it. I’m tired.  _ Emma, reluctantly, rolled off of the man and onto the wet ground.

“Sorry,” she said, wincing at the cool water in contact with her legs. Realizing that Klemens was wearing even less and was flat on his back, she exclaimed, “Oh, you need to get up. You must be freezing!” 

She stood up, offering her hand to Klemens. He grabbed it and she pulled him to his feet.

“Thanks, Emma,” he smiled.  _ Oh he used my name. That was—that was nice. _

“Yeah. Um, yeah,” she smiled back. 

“It’s cold.”

“No shit. I just said that.”

“I know. I just—” He took a deep breath, “I thought that, I don’t know, we could…”

Emma knew what he was trying to say and shuffled closer to him. She took off her jacket, put her hand around Klemens, pulled him closer, and draped the coat on top of the two of them.  __

“Um, yeah. That,” Klemens grinned shyly at her. His cheeks were flushed, whether from the cold or her actions, Emma couldn’t tell. 

She looked at the building, she could see a bit of smoke drifting out of one of the top windows but no fire was visible. Probably just some burnt toast or something. People were milling about, a few babies crying, and a small crowd was surrounding the fire truck, a few talking to a fireman. 

Klemens’ skin was hot. Where her arm touched his back and their sides pressed against each other she could feel the heat radiating off of him. It was a stark contrast to the cold air. Her legs were freezing. They were already closer than she had imagined, so Emma moved her legs a bit so that her right leg pressed against his left. Silently, he reached his arm around Emma to stabilize her. They stood, side by side, not saying a word. The thoughts rushing through their heads were not to be said aloud, and there wasn’t anything they could think of to talk about. 

Emma kept telling herself that it was completely innocent intimacy. It was out of necessity. But she couldn’t keep herself from scanning his body. Admiring the tattoos. He wasn’t ripped or anything, and he wasn’t skinny, but he looked strong. His arm around her waist was calming and comforting and she couldn’t help but lean into it a bit. 

She had only had one significant other, a boyfriend back when she was fifteen with whom she shared her first kiss. It lasted two months. Since then she hadn’t really had anyone except a couple one-night stands that didn’t go anywhere. It was nice to stand there and remember what it was like to be held. To feel some sort of human connection.

Emma looked over at Klemens. His eyes were moving around the parking lot, analyzing everything. His mouth was relaxed, giving him a soft and calming appearance, but she could tell he was alert and not exactly at ease. He was still shivering a bit beside her, and she pulled him closer, if that was possible, and moved the jacket so it would cover more of his shoulders.

“Thanks,” Klemens said, making Emma jump a bit. He had been so quiet the past minute.

“You’re welcome,” She smiled. Their faces were inches away from each other. She wanted so desperately to just lean in and kiss him. Or wrap both her arms around him and never let go. Anything to be closer. 

“Do you think we’ll be heading back in soon?” He asked. That ripped Emma right out of her fantasies.

“Um,” she glanced over at the fire truck. The firemen were starting to get back into the vehicle and it appeared that the smoke was gone from the affected apartment. Emma shrugged, “I guess.”

“So, uh, thanks for sharing the jack—”

“Alright everyone! Thank you for your patience!” The voice was coming from behind the crowd of people but sounded a bit like their landlord, “Someone left something in the oven and it started burning. No one was hurt. You can all go back to sleep now!”

A few people clapped. It got a bit louder as the residents began to talk to each other and start to head inside again. It was quite a large flood of people trying to enter the building at once, and Emma didn’t want to immediately enter the crowd. On the other hand, she wanted to go back to where it was warm. 

“Emma, let’s wait a bit,” came Klemens voice from near her ear. His breath was hot on her cheek. It felt nice. No, nice wasn’t the right word. It was borderline arousing. 

“Okay,” she breathed out, quietly. 

They stood there in silence until there were only a few people left trying to get inside. Klemens took away his arm and walked away from Emma and the jacket, towards the entrance. She whimpered a bit at a loss of heat and pulled the jacket back around her. He stopped and turned around.

“You coming?” He smiled. She grinned and jogged to where he was. 

The two started walking together towards the door. With a sudden burst of bravery, Emma’s arm snaked out from beneath the coat and reach out to brush against Klemens’ hand. He took the hint and opened his palm where she placed hers and they intertwined her fingers. Without looking over, she smiled to herself as they entered the building and walked to the stairs. 

At the doors to their apartments, Emma let go. The two stood for a moment, looking at each other. Klemens wearing his boxers and soaked through socks, and Emma, jacket hanging open revealing her pajamas (and as she realized once more, she was pretty exposed in just that). 

“Emma, thanks. For the jacket, and for, for standing with me.”

“You’re welcome,” Emma said, flatly. This was suddenly awkward. And they were wet and uncomfortable. “I, uh, I should get back inside, change, and, you know, sleep and stuff.”

“Sleep and stuff…” Klemens echoed. Sort of blankly. 

“Klemens, if you want, you could,” she took a deep breath, “You could come over for breakfast tomorrow?”

His eyes lit up, “I’d like that. Yeah. That sounds good.”

She smiled. 

“Okay then, yeah. Tomorrow, probably at like 9am? Or 8?” Emma said.

“9. We were up late tonight,” he smirked.

“Okay,” Emma turned to open her apartment door, “Goodnight, Klemens.”

She pulled the door open when she felt a hand on her upper arm, spinning her back to Klemens. He was right there, right in front of her, his chest pressed against hers, and he leaned in. She took that as enough of an invitation and crashed their lips together, right there in the hallway. 

It wasn’t a magical first kiss. They were sopping wet and his hair kept getting in her eyes, but their arms were in a tangled mess trying to embrace each other and it felt  _ good _ . It wasn’t a kiss with tongue and passion and the intention of bringing it further. It was a kiss full of desperation and want and appreciation, it was light and made Emma feel like she was floating. It was perfect.

They pulled apart simultaneously, somehow mutually acknowledging the logical end, and both a bit too tired to do anything more. They were both smiling. Emma backed up, slowly towards her door.

“Goodnight, Klemens,” she whispered.

“Goodnight,” he responded, airily, as Emma entered her apartment and closed the door.


End file.
